Since the original publication of the 'For Whom the Windfalls?' report, several areas of the policy recommendations to the Zambian Government have seen significant improvements.
- We have seen real developments in the tax regime, as reported in great detail here.
- The Development Agreements have effectively been cancelled, ending a culture of secrecy and impunity for mining firms.
- The Environmental Council of Zambia has had moments of activism, though I wouldn't like to say everything is sorted.
- Similarly, even the Mines Safety Department has been allocated increased funding and shown some energy.
- The Government has made some noises about pressing the industry harder to make ties to further processing in-country, and to improve local procurement systems - one major concern here is the ongoing wrangles over company commitments to support the new North-Western rail link, rather than letting the state take all the risks.
- Even the Labour Mininstry and senior Ministers have occassionally made noises about the dangers of casualisation on the Copperbelt and have vocally pushed employers for more formal employment and more employment of locals - of course much of this is meaningless without new legislation. We do, however, hear gossip about proposals to regulate the pay of sub-contracted workers to ensure they are paid 80% of what permanent employees in the same work at the same plant receive. This falls some way short of the concept of equal pay for equal work and leaves a cost-cutting incentive in place for continued casualisation, but it would mark an improvement on the current situation.
However, it has been a long-running theme of this blog that the ongoing social, political and labour crisis on the Copperbelt results largely from the inadequacies of Zambian labour legislation. If enabled to organise effectively free trade unions would be well-positioned to bargain on behalf of workers, to draw attention to safety problems in the mines. In other words, rather than relying on weak state institutions, the interests of Zambians would be defended by the workers themselves.
Well, excitement greeted the initial annoucement that the Labour Law would undergo comprehensive reform in theis Parliament. However, as The Post report today, much of this enthusiasm is turning to concern as detail of the draft legisalation comes out. The Zambian Congress of Trade Unions were recently reported in the Daily Mail saying that the Government had snuck a revised version of its proposals to Parliament without the approval of the tripartite committee of business, governemt and unions originally brought together to discuss the changes. ZCTU first vice president, Sam Phiri said, “Our point is very clear. Government should withdraw the Bill from Parliament. Otherwise, this will result in confrontations. We are going to adopt a non cooperative attitude.”
The Post now report that the Federation of Free Trade Unions of Zambia (FFTUZ) president Joyce Nonde has warned of unprecedented industrial unrest if the government does not withdraw the Industrial and Labour Relations Amendment bill, currently before parliament.
Nonde described the bill as primitive, suppressive and vindictive and was only targeted at individuals in the labour movement. She said the bill violated the Republican Constitution, the International Labour Organisation conventions and infringed on human rights.
“The bill that we agreed on at the tripartite labour council is not the one that has been presented to Parliament,” Nonde claimed. “Collective bargaining has been destroyed in this amendment bill because workers will no longer be represented by union officials of their choice but by those imposed by government and employers... This is taking away our freedom of association, which we fought for in the 1997 amendments. Workers must be represented by leaders of their choice without interference from employers and government.”
She noted that the Labour Commissioner had been given powers to register or not to register a trade union based on threats to national security and yet national security had not been defined. “This proposed law will lead to non-registration of trade unions and therefore leave many workers at the mercy of employers. This is testimony that today the Labour Commissioner has continued denying workers the right to form their trade unions... The few trade unions that have been registered recently have been through court orders.... Under the bill, the minister has taken away the powers from the workers and employers through the tripartite consultative labour council to himself alone to decide which category of workers are essential and not eligible to take strike action... So if for example today at Bank of Zambia the workers are not happy with the conditions of service and they want to revolt, the minister can sign a statutory instrument in the night and declare them essential workers before they take any action. It would be long before all workers in Zambia are declared essential workers.”
She further said the amended labour law, if passed, would render trade union secretariats non-existent as they would now be run by part-time staff. “All general secretaries of existing trade unions have been disqualified under the amendment bill from recontesting their elective posts. The law proposes that full-time positions in trade unions should be on part-time and that once a trade union official is seconded, he/she should cease to stand for re-election.”
She said that her union would consult with the Zambia Congress of Trade Unions whether or not to attend next week’s tripartite labour council to which they have been invited. “What will be the purpose of the tripartite labour council if the law has already been sent to parliament? We won’t be used as rubber stamps to show that we are in agreement on the amended law.”
Some of the contentious issues that FFTUZ disputes included the amendments of: section 69 of the Industrial and Labour Relations Act where the most representative trade unions in the sector, trade or industry would lead negotiations with employers after forming an alliance with minority labour bodies; section 21 where the labour commissioner had been given powers to appoint an independent auditor to look at the books of account of a trade union which is suspected of abusing funds or using them contrary to its objectives and that depending on the auditor’s recommendation, officers of the union could be suspended for a period not beyond 90 days pending conclusion of the audit report.
The Daily Mail covers the same story from a different angle, saying that the government has assured the labour movement that it is ready to dialogue over the Industrial and Labour Relations Amendment Bill because the proposed changes are still subject to further scrutiny by various stakeholders.
Acting Minister of Labour and Social Security, Dr Kalombo Mwansa, said in a statement in Lusaka yesterday that Government would respect guidelines from the Tripartite Consultative Labour Council and the International Labour Organisation on amendments to labour laws.“Government wishes to assure the Tripartite Social Partners that the Bill is not cast in stone and will be subject to further scrutiny by the parliamentary committee on economic affairs and labour,” Dr Mwansa said. Dr Mwansa, who is Minister of Mines and Minerals Development, said the Bill was a product of broad consultations between the Ministry of Labour and Social Security, trade unions and employers who met at a Tripartite Consultative Labour Council in November 2006 and in March and April, 2007. After the meetings, a report from the Tripartite Technical Committee was presented to legal experts to draft the Bill that was considered by Government and later published for introduction in Parliament. “I therefore wish to urge trade unions not to conduct social dialogue in the press but use the various avenues available by meeting the Ministry of Labour and Social Security,” he said.
This way, all concerned parties would reach consensus on matters that would contribute to the efficiency of the labour market and productivity. The Zambia Congress of Trade Unions (ZCTU) and the Federation of Free Trade Unions of Zambia (FFTUZ) differed with the Zambia Federation of Employers (ZFE) over the proposed amendments to the Industrial and Labour Relations Act. ZCTU acting secretary general, Ian Mkandawire, said the labour movement had resolved at its general council to ask Government to withdraw the Bill from Parliament because there was no consensus among stakeholders. FFTUZ president, Joyce Nonde, said during the week that Zambia would experience a historic countrywide unrest if the Bill was not withdrawn from Parliament. But ZFE said it was happy with the “progressive” amendments to some sections of the Industrial and Labour Relations Act to create a level playing field.
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